![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/my-sons-cancer-was-caused-by-stomach-eating-bug-all-travellers-should-know-about/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/0_EXCL-My-sons-cancer-was-caused-by-a-stomach-eating-bug-all-travellers-should-know-about.jpg&description=Mum-of-four Rebecca Wilcox believes her son could have been saved had he done a test for Helicobacter Pylori and is now raising awareness for travellers in his name Zak Wilcox had the best time backpacking across India as a bright-eyed 19-year-old with his whole life ahead of him. But in the last week of his trip and as he returned home to his mum's home in Bath, he suffered sickness and diarrhoea that lasted for three weeks. Little did he know that it could have been something much more sinister and a bug that potentially cost him his life. Zak died at the age of 40 in 2021 just three months after being told he had stomach cancer. His mother, Rebecca Wilcox, 77, believes his cancer was caused by infection from a stomach-eating bug - Helicobacter Pylori - which following biopsy results, she suspects he picked up on his travels all those years ago in India. "If he had known he should have taken a test for H. pylori on his return from a gap year trip to India, where over 80 per cent of the population carry this bug, he would still be here today," the mum-of-four told the Mirror. "The bug bores away into the lining of the stomach for years, sometimes decades, before it becomes fatal. The symptoms of stomach cancer are either non-existent or so mild people pass them off as indigestion until it is too late." Evidence shows that worldwide, approximately 90 per cent of non-cardia - the main part of the stomach - cancer cases are attributable to H. pylori infection, according to the National Library of Medicine. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention notes H. pylori as one of the most common chronic bacterial infections worldwide, with about two-thirds of the world's population infected, with it being more common in developing countries, such as in Asia and South America. Short-term travellers appear to be at low risk of acquiring the bug, most commonly caught from food and water contaminated with faeces, but ex-pats and long-stay travellers could be at greater risk.){kind=link}
Mum-of-four Rebecca Wilcox believes her son could have been saved had he done a test for Helicobacter Pylori and is now raising awareness for travellers in his name
Zak Wilcox had the best time backpacking across India as a bright-eyed 19-year-old with his whole life ahead of him.
But in the last week of his trip and as he returned home to his mum’s home in Bath, he suffered sickness and diarrhoea that lasted for three weeks. Little did he know that it could have been something much more sinister and a bug that potentially cost him his life.
Zak died at the age of 40 in 2021 just three months after being told he had stomach cancer. His mother, Rebecca Wilcox, 77, believes his cancer was caused by infection from a stomach-eating bug – Helicobacter Pylori – which following biopsy results, she suspects he picked up on his travels all those years ago in India.
“If he had known he should have taken a test for H. pylori on his return from a gap year trip to India, where over 80 per cent of the population carry this bug, he would still be here today,” the mum-of-four told the Mirror.